Urine deflector for a toilet seat

ABSTRACT

A urine deflector is disclosed for attachment to the underside of a toilet seat for blocking the gap between the toilet seat and the top of the rim of the toilet bowl at the front, e.g. to prevent urine or splashes from leaking through the gap. The deflector body comprises a length of flexible material with surfaces that are water resistant and taper from an attachment surface to a lower drip edge. When installed, the deflector body is curved to follow the curvature of the rim of toilet bowl and the deflector surface is also preferably concave in vertical cross-section. The attachment surface may comprise a self-adhesive strip. The deflector is low cost, easy to install, and unobtrusive when installed. A flexible universal design may be adapted readily for retrofit installation on standard toilet seats.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority from U.S. Patent Application No. 61/713,954, filed Oct. 15, 2012, entitled “Urine deflector for a toilet seat”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a urine deflector for a toilet seat.

BACKGROUND

For most households, cleaning of the toilet is a routine but unwelcome task. It would be desirable to reduce splashes and drips around the toilet to reduce the need for cleaning.

In North America, most toilets for domestic use comprise a porcelain bowl, provided with a hinged, oval ring shaped seat that extends over the rim of the toilet bowl. The seat may have a lid, and the seat is typically supported by a hinge at the back so that the seat can be raised and lowered. When the seat is lowered, it rests on a small spacer or leg at each side near the front, leaving a space between the top of the rim of the toilet bowl and the underside of the toilet seat. The gap underneath the seat at the front, between the rim of the toilet bowl and the underside of the seat, creates a problem when a seated user urinates because if misdirected, urine may splash, squirt under the seat or leak through the gap between the underside of the seat and the rim of the bowl, drip down the front of the exterior of the bowl, splash onto the floor or wet clothing. This is a well-known problem when toilet training small children, particular boys, who need to hold onto the seat with their hands to steady themselves while urinating when seated. However, misdirected urine that escapes through the gap under the seat may also be an issue for others of any age, male and female, when using the toilet in a seated position, particularly if the user is distracted, e.g. texting reading, or otherwise occupied, e.g. reaching for toilet paper or a support bar.

Numerous designs for urine deflectors or splash guards (“pee deflectors”) have been proposed to reduce splashes and drips of urine around the rim and exterior of the toilet bowl and on the floor around the toilet. However, existing designs that are commercially available tend to be focussed either on children's products for toilet training young children, or, on products that are available from medical equipment suppliers for use by medical facilities or for home use, e.g. to facilitate use by the elderly or infirm, or those with limited mobility. Some of this equipment, while functional, may be bulky and not of a particularly attractive design for everyday use. It may get in the way of other users, impede closing the toilet lid, or tend to create other problems associated with cleaning this equipment that creates more effort than simply cleaning around the toilet. It is apparent that improvements in conventional toilet seat designs could address this problem.

Thus, in one approach to address this problem, U.S. Pat. No. 8,266,731 to Marra, entitled “Toilet seat with urine deflector”, discloses an alternative toilet seat with an integrated urine deflector extending downwards from the inside edge of the seat inside the rim of the toilet bowl. The deflector extends a small distance inside the rim of the bowl to cover the gap between the bottom of the seat and the top rim of the bowl, around part of the bowl or around the entire the bowl. However, it would be expensive for a household to have to replace all standard toilet seats with new seats having integrated deflectors, and many different models would be needed to fit various shapes and styles of toilets.

U.S. Patent application No. U.S. 2007/0056086 to Raviendran, entitled “Toilet gap shield” discloses a deflector for a toilet seat in the form of an attachment for a standard toilet seat. The deflector or gap shield is affixed to the underside of the seat. It is curved to fit around the inside edge of the opening in the seat and extends downwardly around the front part of opening in the seat within the rim to close the gap between the seat and the rim. The gap shield may form a bumper that rests on the rim at the front, which is not particularly desirable if the rim is wet or splashed. Other designs of a similar form are shown in U.S. Design Pat. Nos. USD540499 “Toilet seat urine shield” and USD 405168 “Urine deflector”.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,870,619 to Conrad, entitled “Potty training device” discloses a deflector in the form of a hinged flexible sheet that can be adhesively affixed to the underside of a standard toilet seat with self-adhesive tabs, and may be of a material that is flushable or biodegradable for temporary use. This product is less bulky, and can be shipped as a flat sheet. However, when made of a more durable material for longer term use, it would tend to be difficult to clean around the self-adhesive tabs and the flexible sheet-like deflector surfaces.

As will be appreciated from these and other known designs, it is desirable to provide a deflector which may be easily retrofitted to a standard toilet seat to close the gap between the front of the seat and the rim, but one does not have surfaces or crevices that tend to trap liquid or drip when the seat is raised, which adds to cleaning problems.

Thus it is desirable to provide alternative or improved devices.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a urine deflector for attachment to a toilet seat. The deflector attaches the underside of a toilet seat to block the gap between the toilet seat and the top of the rim of the toilet bowl at the front, to prevent urine from leaking through the gap.

In one aspect, the invention provides a urine deflector for attachment to the underside of a toilet seat comprising: an elongated body, comprising a length, or strip, of a moisture resistant material, having an attachment surface for attaching to the underside of the toilet seat, and first and second surfaces tapering to a drip edge extending along the length of the body, at least the first surface acting as a liquid deflecting surface.

In an embodiment, the deflector body comprises a strip of flexible, water resistant, material with surfaces that taper from an attachment surface to a lower drip edge. When installed, the deflector body is flexed or curved to follow the curvature of the rim of toilet bowl and the deflector surface is also preferably concave in the vertical cross-section. Conveniently, the attachment surface may comprise a self-adhesive strip. The deflector is low cost, easy to install without tools, and unobtrusive when installed. A flexible universal design may be adapted readily for installation on standard toilet seats of various shapes.

This shape of the deflector body and surfaces effectively closes the gap between the seat and the rim of the toilet bowl. One surface, which acts as the deflector surface is slightly concave to effectively redirect liquid and splashes, including urine into the bowl. Beneficially the deflector body has a generally triangular cross section defined by the first and second surfaces extending from the attachment surface and tapering to an apex forming a lower drip edge, similar to a drip strip.

The design is compact, easily installed and unobtrusive when installed. It can be manufactured from suitable low cost water resistant flexible materials, e.g. plastics or polymer materials, and shipped at low cost. It is preferably sufficiently flexible to be adaptable to toilet seats with different curvatures. If required, it may be pre-formed from a less flexible material into a curved arcuate shape suitable for standard toilet seat sizes.

In a preferred form, the deflector is shaped to be easy to clean, and its compact form discretely attaches to the seat so as to be almost unnoticeable in use. Compared with use of more bulky and visible splash guards, any embarrassment to users is mitigated.

Thus the deflector provides an alternative to other known designs and provides advantages that overcome some of the problems with prior designs, in a low cost easy to install product. These and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description in which reference is made to the appended drawings, which are by way of example only.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a deflector of an embodiment of the invention and FIGS. 1A and 1B show end/vertical cross sectional views of deflectors of different shapes;

FIG. 2 shows another view of the deflector of FIG. 1, flexed for installation, and FIG. 2A shows a side view;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the deflector attached to the underside of a standard toilet seat;

FIG. 4 shows a side cross sectional view of the deflector attached to the toilet seat;

FIG. 4A shows an enlarged side/cross-sectional view of the deflector, in position, extending within the rim of the toilet bowl.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a deflector 10 according to an embodiment of the invention, before installation. The deflector comprises an elongated flexible body 10 e.g. a length of flexible polymer or plastic strip, which is water resistant, having a first surface 14 and second surface 16 which extend from an attachment surface 20 to a lower drip edge 18. The cross-section 21 of the deflector body 10 may, for example, be shaped as illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. For installation, the deflector 10 is flexed as shown in FIG. 2 to conform to the curvature of the opening 22 in a conventional toilet seat 24 of a toilet 30, as shown in FIG. 3. The deflector 10 is adhesively affixed to the underside 26 of the toilet seat, preferably using a “peel and stick” self-adhesive layer on surface 20 with a removable strip 12 as shown in FIG. 1. To effectively position the deflector relative to the rim 34 of the toilet bowl 36, with the seat lowered, the outline of the curvature of the inside surface 36 of the rim can be marked on the underside 26 of the toilet seat 20, e.g. using an erasable marker or pencil. The deflector 10 is then flexed and positioned on the underside 26 of the toilet seat with the outer curved surface 14 aligned inside the marking of the curvature of the rim, and with the inner curved surface 16 facing into the center of bowl 32 to form the liquid deflector surface as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in side view in FIG. 4 and in cross-section in FIG. 4A, when the seat is lowered, the deflector extends inside the rim 36 of the bowl, and closes the gap 40 between the underside of the seat and the top surface 34 of the rim of the bowl, which results from the spacers or legs 28 on which the seat rests. The surface 14 is aligned close to, but not touching, the inside surface 36 of the rim. The surface 16 is slightly concavely curved downwardly to deflect splashes or urine into the bowl, and the body 10 of the deflector tapers towards the apex forming the drip edge 18. The ends 21 of the deflector body 10 may be cut square to the length of the deflector to form a sharp edge, or alternatively comprises curved or shaped end portions 19, as shown in FIG. 2A. The triangular cross section 21 conveniently provides a concave deflector surface 16, and the side surfaces 14 and 16 meet the attachment surface 20 at suitably tapered angles so that when attached, the edges attached to the underside 26 of the seat are easily cleaned.

In the embodiment described above, the deflector is provided from a straight but flexible strip of a water resistant material, preferably a flexible plastic that has a surface that is non-porous and waterproof, that can be readily manufactured, e.g. be formed or extruded, and which can be easily flexed to match the curvature of the rim. Thus, a flexible one size unit can be adapted to provide a universal fit for a wide range of different toilet seat shapes. Typically it would be provided at least in white, but other standard toilet seat colours may be desirable. Since the deflector has a solid body, and is low profile, it is more durable for long term use that those formed from thin sheet materials, and it is shaped to be easier to clean, e.g. edges are tapered. The lower drip edge is preferably relatively sharp, to help drain liquid from the deflector surface.

During prototyping it was discovered that a product that was too thick or heavy, or did not have a sufficiently strong adhesive tape was not suitable. A slimmer, lightweight form of flexible extruded plastic is preferred

In alternative embodiments, the deflector may be pre-formed, in an arcuate form as shown in FIG. 2, with a suitable curvature, e.g. for a standard round or elongated toilet seat. The deflector may therefore be formed of suitable molded or thermoformed materials, which are more rigid, such as the same materials as typically used for the toilet seat itself.

Deflector surfaces may be formed from or treated with water repellent materials, or treated with antimicrobial agents or other surface treatments to facilitate easy cleaning.

The deflector is provided in a suitable length, e.g. 5 or 6 inches, to fit conveniently under the front of the seat, between the spacers/supports at each side of the toilet seat. As shown in the figures, the ends are cut square, and it is envisaged that it would be provided in a standard length(s). The deflector may be trimmed to fit if needed. In alternative embodiments, the deflector ends may be tapered or curved.

The length of the deflector may be longer. However, generally, it is not necessary that the deflector extends all around the toilet seat. Thus, it is unobtrusive and does not interfere with normal use or functioning of the seat, while addressing the issue of liquid splashing or leaking between the rim and the seat at the front of the toilet bowl. The deflector may be fitted to align just within the inside surface 36 of the rim of the bowl, with a sufficient gap so as not to catch or rest on the rim or interfere with raising or lowering the seat. It may extend about 1 inch downwardly from the seat.

The deflector is shaped to be easy to clean, and its compact form discretely attaches to the seat so as to be almost unnoticeable in use.

Alterations, modifications and variations may be made to the embodiment by those of skill in the art. Thus, although specific embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and not to be taken by way of limitation, the scope of the present invention being limited only by the appended claims. 

1. A urine deflector for attachment to the underside of a toilet seat comprising: an elongated body, comprising a length (strip) of a moisture resistant material, having an attachment surface for attaching to the underside of the toilet seat, and first and second surfaces tapering to a drip edge extending along the length of the body, at least the first surface formed as a liquid deflecting surface.
 2. A urine deflector according to claim 1, wherein the elongated body comprises a flexible polymer or plastic material.
 3. A urine deflector according to claim 1, wherein the elongate body is pre-formed into a curved shape along its length to provide an arcuate deflector surface.
 4. A urine deflector according to claim 1, wherein the attachment surface comprises a “peel-and-stick adhesive” strip.
 5. A urine deflector according to claim 1, wherein in vertical cross-section the liquid deflecting surface comprises a concave deflecting surface.
 6. A urine deflector according to claim 1 wherein the deflector body is manufactured from extruded or molded strip material.
 7. A urine deflector according to claim 1, wherein the strip comprises a triangular cross section.
 8. A urine deflector according to claim 1 wherein the strip has a triangular cross section, with the second surface extending substantially at right angles from the attachment surface and the first surface extends at an acute angle and comprises a concave curvature.
 9. A urine deflector according to claim 1 wherein the body comprises one or more of: a water resistant surface treatment, an antimicrobial treatment, a biodegradable and/or easy to clean material. 